Caste in India: The Facts and the System c8.s6.26

c8.s6.26

The imitation of Brahmanic rules has penetrated even to populations which, though otherwise still quite barbarous, manifest a great eagerness to adopt them. Though they retain many unorthodox customs, they insist upon a Brahmanic clergy. While the priests are despised for the services they render, they in turn are very contemptuous of their flock; but despite everything the patronage of the Brahmans is highly esteemed.¹ The Brahmanic rite of marriage has taken root even in tribes who do not summon Brahmans to their ceremonies.² An extremely low caste such as the Rāmośis,³ where the exogamous limit is marked by the totem, nevertheless owes much to the Brahmans, not merely its genealogical legend, but the prohibition of the marriage of widows. It is reversing the true order of things to attribute the authorship of such restrictions to the aborigines. In the early stages, organization and custom show obvious resemblances from race to race, the social machinery being too primitive to admit of great diversity. One must take care, however, not to confuse what is late or borrowed with what is hereditary.